The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance

The pencil is such a simple piece of technology that it is often ignored. No one gives it a second thought to lose a pencil or throw one away. In fact, it’s the only piece of property that we lend to perfect strangers with little or no expectations of it being returned. The pencil is just everyday debris, a technology so common that we don’t even think of it as technology. And yet a tremendous amount of engineering, imagination, and hard work of thousands of people has gone into the simple, humble wood case pencil. Such a simple technology that has played such an important role in art and science, in everyday writing, and in every students learning experience deserves more credit then we give it.Henry Petroski has taken on the challenge to track down and retell the history of the pencil in all its wonderful minutia. Starting from its murky origin through its industrialization to its place in our modern society (of the early 1990’s) the pencil has had an incredibly complex history and mix of economics and creativity that is inherit to any engineering endeavor. For Petroski the history of the pencil is a perfect metaphor for what he calls the engineering method. He makes a pretty convincing argument for treating the practice of engineering in the same manner that we treat the scientific method. It doesn’t take Petroski much arguing to convince the reader that engineering is so pervasive in our everyday lives, that it warrants more study of how engineers perform their jobs and make the things we simply can’t live without. However, since much of engineering is tied up in drawings and diagrams of designs and solutions, that there simply aren’t enough eloquent engineers to explain the process to the public in the same ways as popularizers of science.Luckily, Petroski is an eloquent historian, whose enthusiasm for his subjects is infectious. Now full disclosure here, I’m something of a wood case enthusiast, so I need little selling on the arcane history of the pencil. For most folks it’s a bit of harder sale, which is understandable of course. But Petroski does such a good job of making the history relatable and easy to read that it feels more like reading a general history rather than a dry history of some dull everyday object. It’s not a page turner by any means, but I think there is enough information and enough exploration of the engineering methodology to keep anyone interested until the end. Then again I could be completely blinded by love of the pencil that this could all be completely terrible and not worth reading. So yeah, I thought it was great, not sure if everyone else will.*1st draft of this review written with a General’s Layout (Extra Black) No.555 B-core pencil

For every pencil lover's library. On Mary Norris' desk.Perfect reference text.

The author, an engineer, sets out to chart the development of the pencil in conjunction with engineering processes. I had not realized that the graphite pencil was a fairly recent invention (about 1550). This is an interesting book. My only criticism is that I think it's a bit overly long.

Some stranger that I meet in a coffee shop for a brief moment told me about this book. Who would have thought that the history of pencils would be interesting … something we take so much for granted. I was intrigued enough to get it. Great surprise. There is a great deal of history involved with this story. When I finished, I gifted it to a good friend who loves writing with 'old time pencils'. She was thrilled.Book was new as far as I could tell … seemly untouched. Shipping time was excellent.

This rather long book, given its subject, is probably the most complete history of the pencil up to about 1988. There's a lot of repetition as though the chapters had been written separately as columns or articles for other publications. There are a few muddy illustrations in this English edition. Petroski dwells for long sections on what engineering is and how it came to be, and this is fine but doesn't do much for the subject at hand. I bought it used and will donate it to the local library.

Research on colored pencil history

READ THIS!! A subject that seems so simple yet becomes a metaphor for most of what makes the modern world. The author takes what should be a simple mundane subject and makes it a page turner. We all use the pencil but we have little understanding of how it changed the world.

I've read Petroski before, so I was prepared for his discursive style, alternately entertaining and annoying. Almost everything you might want to know about the pencil is here somewhere--perhaps just not where you'd expect it to be. Different readers will bring different agenda to this book, and some may revel in the entire volume as written. Personally, I found the book too long, and I eventually began skimming Petroski's meandering commentary on the connections between engineering, technology, craftsmanship and entrepreneurship, which he probably deemed the ground for writing the book in the first place.Having said that, there is much to enjoy here: great stories about mining Borrowdale "plumbago," the creativeness of Thoreau as pencilmaker, the 1847 discovery by Jean Pierre Alibert of a vast deposit of graphite on the border of Siberia and China, and the trials and successes of Armand Hammer's pencil making venture for the Soviet Union. "Appendix B," a discussion of Petroski's own pencil collecting, is as entertaining as anything in the book.

Kitty Burns Florey (Script and Scribble: the rise and fall of handwriting) described "The Pencil" as an engrossing read, and she was right. Henry Petroski digs into the history of this household item, ubiquitous, almost indispensable and yet often completely overlooked. From the reason many pencils are yellow and hexagonal to the surprising value of graphite, Petroski tells us things that will give you a new appreciation for a well-made pencil and its place in history.

... with a brief introduction about other times, nations and beginnings.I wanted to know about the pencil, but only a first section is about it, the rest is about The Pencil Production by American Factories.But at least now I have a list of names to use for my next researches.The book is well enough written, and contains interesting considerations about engineering.

pas mal

Buon libro per artisti curiosi, il volume ripercorre le fasi di evoluzione delle matite ed è simpatico da sfogliare e da leggere anche saltando da un capitolo all'altro. Consigliato.

For anyone who wants to know the history of today's humble, but ever so useful pencil, this has to be the best read ever.